Stone Chameleon (Ironhill Jinn #1) Read online

  Drawing up my certainty, I let it fill my voice. “Yes.”

  “Does this lad know how fortunate he is to have a loyal employer?”

  “Put any innocent behind me, friend or stranger, and my answer would be the same.” I straightened my back. “Even some who are not so innocent.”

  Isaac’s jaw flexed. “Are you suggesting I’m not innocent?”

  “Christ.” Gerry fingered the weapon in its hip holster as he rose from the table. “Now would be a real good time to shut your mouth, Lou.”

  “No.” I waved him off, keeping my focus on the vampire. “I’m done with all this posturing. How many times have I put my body between yours and the many hate groups who’ve tried to kill you over the decade we’ve known each other, Isaac? Twenty? Fifty? A hundred? You’re alive because of my loyalty to you and to all the preternatural communities in Ironhill. Don’t let your grief erase everything you know about me.”

  When he dropped his gaze, I found the courage to press on. “These are the facts. I’m an average sized woman who doesn’t possess the speed or strength to subdue a vampire, let alone five, and live to tell about it. Neither could Dominic or Harper, both with statures not built for force. We work in places of danger, so it makes sense that we’re the ones to find the bodies. If logic isn’t within your grasp tonight and you’re going to arrest me, anyway, then do it, but know this—when the murders continue, and they will, each of those subsequent deaths will be on you. Let me consult on this case with Gerry on behalf of the hive, and I promise we’ll find justice for your lost ones.”

  Isaac stared at me for seconds, the anger visibly leaking out of his features to leave him unreadable and still. “Leave us,” he said, flicking his fingers toward the door as the two warlocks moved into my peripheral vision.

  “Lou?” Gerry’s voice cut through the sound of my rampant heartbeat in my ears. “Say the word, and I’ll get you out of here.”

  Isaac twisted his head to look at the middle-aged man. “That’s not your choice to make.”

  Although a mild tremble had begun in my knees, I didn’t dare move. “It’s all right, Gerry. Isaac won’t hurt me. Will you, Isaac?”

  “What?” Dom shot up, his chains clanking when they grew taut. “We’re not leaving you with him.”

  “If he intends on killing me, then none of you can stop him, and I won’t put anyone else in his path. Go into the hall with Gerry, Dominic. I’ll take you home shortly.” I hoped I hadn’t lied to him.

  Feet shuffled against the floor, and Dom muttered something low to Gerry. The chains jingled, I assumed because Gerry had unlocked his cuffs. Deirdre and Brax left the corner of my vision. Even though I had a desperate desire for her to stay, I remained silent.

  The door clicked shut, sealing me into a large metal coffin with an angry vampire. Or, at least, that was how it seemed in my perception.

  “You fear me, yet you sent them away.” His melodic accent resonated between my thighs.

  Denial sat on my tongue, but denying emotions he tasted like airborne candy would only amuse him. “Being alone with you touches a primal part of me, Isaac, but—”

  “Then I shall have to find you alone more often.” His lips curled into an indecent smile.

  I crossed my arms and stepped sideways far enough to gain an illusion of safety. “I have a job tonight, so spit out whatever it is you want to say.”

  Isaac moved to the table and slid his rear onto the corner of it, leaving one of his thighs propped on the metal, and the other foot planted on the floor. The pose spread his legs beneath the kilt. I stared and wondered, as I often had, if he wore anything beneath it.

  The plaid fabric shifted up his bare knee. My gaze tracked up to find his fists full of tartan. It tracked further up to find a fully fanged grin. “Would you like an answer to the question your eyes ask but your mouth never does?”

  “Don’t flatter yourself. I like my men with a pulse.” I moved toward the door, keeping my back to it.

  “The pheromones rolling off your lush curves tell the truth even when you do not.” Gripping the edge of the table, he let his head tilt down. His mass of root beer waves shifted forward, casting his features in shadow, but I didn’t need to see them to recognize the shift in his mood. Something in the line of his jaw told me grief had claimed him.

  An object glinted in his hand. I hadn’t seen him retrieve anything from his sporran. Words spilled from his lips, not in Gaelic as I often heard him use, but in a dialect that sounded ancient and possibly Aramaic.

  A purple shimmer raced over the ceiling above him, and before I identified the cause, it had already gone down the walls to the floor.

  The surrounding air seemed static, unmoving, and the earth disappeared to my senses.

  “Isaac, what have you done?” Every hair stood out on my body, and it took great effort to keep from going for my blade. My jinn power simmered in my soul, waiting to burst free with my self-preservation instincts, and return me to my element.

  “I’ve ensured our privacy. They canna hear us through the sound system or see us through that wall of mirrors, nor can you leave before I allow it.”

  Bloody hell. “The warlocks will—”

  “Do nothing,” he said over top of me. “They know knowing of this magic.” He remained silent for a while, watching me from beneath dark lashes, like a panther making no bother to hide himself from his prey. “His name was Daniel,” he said finally.

  I frowned, confused as to where this was leading and why that information required a ward to keep it from Gerry. “The young vampire in the sewer, is that who you mean?”

  “He spoke of you as a revolutionary, destined to pave the way to a united world of monsters and humans living in peace.”

  I wasn’t only doing it for them, but for myself as well. By smoothing the cultural gap between species, I hoped to see a day when I didn’t have to hide in plain sight. That day remained a long way off, despite how far we’d come.

  “The day you convinced Ironhill U to accept students of all races, and you stood upon the steps of City Hall and declared education for all, Daniel sought me out,” Isaac continued. “He wanted to be the first man to hold doctorates in every discipline of medicine, from dermatology to neurology, from obstetrics to psychiatry. After your failed battle to allow other species to be treated at Ironhill General, can you imagine such a resource in this city? A man who could heal whatever ailed his patients, whether it was mind or body. He was brilliant, and his success was only a matter of time.”

  My ribs seemed to shrink as I listened, but his past words echoed in my head. “Why are you telling me this? Because you once accused me of painting you with human emotions you’re apparently incapable of, and you’re trying awfully hard to make this sound like sentiment. Did you care for this young man?”

  He rose to his imposing height and approached slowly. “This is not my sentiment, but an attempt to appeal to yours. You see us as monsters, despite your apparent devotion to our cause. I need you to know who Daniel was, so you understand what’s been lost. Not a shadow in the night, but a future revolutionary in the field of medicine.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. Daniel was no doubt an innocent, but denying my opinion of the one who damned him would ring as a lie. “You’re no more of a monster than I am,” I said. I was the larger monster in the room in terms of power, but Isaac didn’t appear to have picked up on the insult. “I don’t need to know your people to do my job and do it well. I’ll do whatever it takes to find the truth.”

  “You see, lass, herein lies my dilemma. You taste of truth, but also of fear. Perhaps you intend to lead me away from the truth instead of to it, and I canna be sure which it is.”

  He stopped in front in front of me, so close his clean-shaven chin blocked the room from my sight. “You stand before me in silk and pearls and dainty heels. Most believe what you said before, that you’re but an average woman, but I’ve seen you bring a giant hell hound to heel without saying a word
. There’s more to you than meets the eye.”

  I jumped when his hand brushed my outer thigh and traced the edges of my knife harness through the skirt.

  “You hide your true danger from the world, and it comes from something more lethal than a stone blade strapped to your thigh.”

  How had he known it was there? I grabbed his wrist, aware of the unbridled power in his body that was so near. “Mind your manners,” I said.

  My thoughts twisted into chaos as I reached for words that would get me out of the room alive. I had to phrase my response carefully to avoid an outright lie. “Tell me how I can prove that I’m no danger to you or your people.”

  He pressed his hands into the door beside my head, trapping me there with the solid mass of his muscular frame. His hair brushed my bare arm, inducing a rash of shivers, and his voice fell low, intimate. “I need to see what you saw in that tunnel.” A slight twist of his head brushed his lips against my hair, and warm breath washed across my temple.

  Lost in the vibrating potential in his body, I trembled, his request registering slowly in my thoughts. “I can’t do what you’re asking.”

  He wanted an invitation into my mind, one that couldn’t be ungiven. All I was, every memory since my birth—including my species—would be his for the taking. Although he could breech my mental borders regardless, taking me by force would also provoke a kill order on him, thanks to changes I’d helped bring to the law.

  Sweat broke out on my brow at the thought of him injured or dead. My jinn side surged within my soul in response, and I suffered a violent urge to take him and flee. What on earth? Since when did Isaac’s life rank higher than my own?

  “If you haven’t committed these heinous crimes, then you have nothing to fear from me,” he said, gripping my face with strong hands, lining my chin up with his. Nobody could help me. Not Gerry and not Deirdre. Not the earth or my connection to it.

  “Please, Isaac. Force this, and you die. Your people need you. There’s nothing in my memory of this incident, or any of the others, that I haven’t told you. Listen to the truth in my voice.”

  After another agonizing few seconds, Isaac released my face, dropping one hand that had grown black claws to my chest above my left breast. “As always with you, your truth is clouded, Miss Hudson. You’re hiding something from me, and I’ll find out what. If I find my people’s blood on your hands, our relationship over the years will not stop me from ripping your heart out and drinking it down as I watch the light leave your stunning blue eyes. Bring me a murderer, or I’ll take you in his place.”

  Static crackled in the air, and he vanished.

  All my air left me at once, my shoulders sagging. Still trembling, I stepped aside and gripped the wall, the door swinging inward the instant I cleared it. For a moment, I held onto the stone blocks and willed my jinn instincts to be still. Adrenaline had me in its grip, and there would be no comprehension of the voices around me until it subsided.

  “Lou, come on now.” It was Gerry. “Unless you say something, I have to issue an arrest warrant I really, really don’t want to write up. Did he or did he not violate you in any way that breaks our accords with the vampire nation?”

  “He didn’t.” My voice resonated strangely in my own ears. “I’m fine, just a little unnerved.”

  A warm touch landed on my arm. I turned to find Dominic wide eyed and shaking. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know he’d do that,” he said.

  “It’s all right now.” I pulled his wiry frame into my arms. He calmed within my embrace, and so did I. “We need to discuss the right and wrong way to talk to an angry vampire,” I said, relieved at the laughter bumping in his chest.

  “You shouldn’t have gotten in his way when he came for me,” Dom said, stepping back. “Guy’s like a bear caught in a trap—he might let you help him, but he also might tear your face off before you do.”

  “Be that as it may, you shouldn’t have angered him. I saved you this time, but he could still snatch you from the darkness one night and nobody would be the wiser.”

  “Don’t even joke about that, Lou.” Gerry moved in beside us. “And I could give the same advice to you. What were you thinking, challenging him like that? You got a death wish? Bigger than the one you normally have, I mean?”

  “He needs a firm hand.” I shrugged. “In the end, he agreed to let me work on the case.” At least, I thought he had, based on his last comment to bring him the murderer or take his or her place. I often found it difficult to interpret Isaac’s actions, but as usual, I’d find the best in the situation.

  Gerry gave a humorless laugh and scrubbed a beefy hand over the back of his neck. “Can’t believe he’s letting you consult. Are there any beasts you can’t tame?”

  “He’s not tamed, Gerry, and never will be. You’d understand if you’d seen him during the last five minutes.” Isaac had never touched me so personally before, the vibrations in my flesh reminding me of what it had been like to be in death’s arms. Terrifying and exhilarating at once.

  I turned my attention to the crimes. “If I recall, there was water around each victim, am I correct? Even the one I found in the west-side alley beside Rikki’s Café.”

  Gerry nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. All of them were drenched, even though three of them were nowhere near water and there’d been no rain for days before the attack.”

  “I’ll begin there, and I’ll talk to Dr. Courian. If anyone knows what kind of magic can control water and make it take the form of a person and butterflies, he would.” Hopefully this time I asked a question, he’d answer with facts instead of riddles.

  “You do that.” Gerry moved his six-foot-two frame toward the door, his stomach bulging over the belt of his chocolate brown suit. “And no keeping secrets from me this time, Lou, I mean it. Let me know if you’re planning to leave town for any reason, and next time you leave a scene before I get there I’ll lock you up my damn self.”

  Scrubbing at his eyes, he let out a harsh breath. “Be careful, you hear?” He pointed his pen at me, his gaze speaking volumes that I had more to worry about than the mystery creature or his idle threats. Even though Isaac had agreed to let me consult, he wouldn’t accept my help graciously, nor would he be satisfied with my word.

  Gerry hadn’t told me anything I didn’t already know.

  Chapter Five

  Dom reached for the front door of the modest bungalow he shared with his grandmother. “It’s kind of embarrassing having my boss walk me to my house.”

  “I put you in danger tonight, and I feel terrible. Seeing you safely to your door is the least I can do.” I glanced around the night for signs of Isaac and found only a quiet street.

  “I feel so stupid. I said a lot of crap I shouldn’t have because he pissed me off. Would he really come after me?”

  “No, I’m not worried for you, Dom.”

  “You’re worried for you, and so am I.” He twisted his young head, and innocence stared back at me from a pale face streaked with pink. “I’d have lied for you, you know.”

  Mercy mother of hellfire. “First rule of dealing with vampires—you can’t lie to one, and if I ever hear you say that again, I’ll sic your grandmother on you. I’ve been on the wrong end of one of her tirades, and that plump finger she shook at me was almost as terrifying as Isaac.” Mrs. Kennedy had been so worried when Gerry finally allowed Dom access to a phone at the precinct.

  Dom laughed and opened the door. “Tell me about it. I’m about to endure one about my new sneaks and clothes Detective Peterson incinerated, not to mention showing up in prison orange. Think I’ll keep the part about Isaac threatening to rip out my throat to myself.”

  When I turned to go, he caught my forearm gently in his hand. “Wait, Lou. I know how much you hate the term monster, but after seeing up close what he’s capable of, I don’t understand how you can see vampires as anything else.”

  “Monster is in the choices we make, and in the actions we take, not in the genetic code of a sp
ecies. There are innocents in the hive and in every clan, horde, and pack out there.” At his skeptical shrug, I drew up a shred of truth, knowing he’d never believe it, anyway. “What if I told you I was a fearsome creature of old with limitless power, who can crack the earth in half on a whim? Given the choices I’ve made in my life, would you still call me a monster?”

  He didn’t pause long before saying, “No, I wouldn’t. I guess nothing’s black and white like I thought.” His mouth opened, but whatever he’d been about to say never came out. He smiled instead. “So, do I still get to work for you after this craptastic day?”

  “You did well today, but you still have a lot to learn. Be on time, be prepared to listen, and we’ll get along splendidly.” I squeezed his arm and turned as he opened the door.

  My affection for the young man swelled in my heart. I’d have a new pair of shoes for him Monday morning, along with a company cell phone. After facing down a rambunctious group of reporters desperate for a story and an irate vampire, he’d earned all the official bells and whistles, and then some.

  On my way back to the car, I remembered my night wasn’t over. It seemed cruel to go on a hunt after such a trying day, but the price tag attached to Connor Lewiston’s pest removal kept me from cancelling.

  When I couldn’t raise Blake or Rudy on their cells, and confirming Harper remained in the healing tank, I headed home to change my clothes. If I had to remove an emotional creature solo, I’d be getting dirty.

  I drove my Ford Focus to the north side of the city and pulled into the parking lot of Rhoda’s Antique Shack. It had an old-fashioned storefront, with aged glass allowing a glimpse into the display within. Bejeweled lamps, royally upholstered chairs in deep burgundies and golds, and an assortment of rustic wooden furniture were most prevalent under the amber spotlights shining down on the eccentric woman’s latest arrangement.

  An electronics store promised bargains galore on the left of the plaza, and a German pastry shop on the right perfumed the summer evening with scents of buttery treats baking in their ovens.